The Challenge Factory discussion

Team 4



Persuasion by Jane Austen

I found it interesting to read about why Anne listened to Lady Russell and stopped her engagement to Frederick. I thought one or two of the reasons rather valid myself.

Is anyone having trouble with the 1800's language? The length of the paragraphs? The convoluted sentences?

Lanelle wrote: "Is anyone having trouble with the 1800's language? The length of the paragraphs? The convoluted sentences?"

Yes, and this is probably why I have never read this book!

I have to remind myself over and over to be patient. We 21st Century people are used to reading or hearing the action, plot line, and personal interaction go a lot faster than it did back then.

I am trying to get through this drivel... I mean, how many adjectives do you need in a sentence to describe someone?
Do any of these people work? Besides those in the military?
So far they seem to be entitled and living above their means. And then there is Lady Russell, the nosey busybody who sticks her nose everywhere.
I have ADHD, and we talk a lot, and I think Jane Austen did too, by how much she wrote, so I get trying to say a lot, but this is way too much, even for me.
My copy is only 235 pages, which should only take me a few hours, but my ADHD has kicked in and I am doing everything but reading.

I'm with everyone. One of the reasons I've never finished a Jane Austen novel is the overly flowery language. I start to squirrel out because I start to think edit people, edit. lol

Stormie ~ Book Dragon ~ wrote: "...my ADHD has kicked in and I am doing everything but reading."

Would an audio book be better? There's several free versions of the book on LibriVox. https://librivox.org/search/?title=Pe... The dramatic version might be the best. I don't know.

Christy wrote: "One of the reasons I've never finished a Jane Austen novel is the overly flowery language."

I would love to find an author that does a compromise of the language and complexity of the old style and the straightforwardness of our current type of writing. Some of the new writing seems repetitive and simple. I like reading the old stuff because they used awesome words that I may not have read before.

Christy wrote: "I'm with everyone. One of the reasons I've never finished a Jane Austen novel is the overly flowery language. I start to squirrel out because I start to think edit people, edit. lol"

Yes!
On some days, I actually love it.
But on other days, I find it overbearing.
I was constantly saying, 'Come one Jane, I'm trying my best to pay attention here.'

I actually don’t have much problem with the language. Maybe I’m just used to it, or maybe listening to parts of it on audiobook helps.. I just finished the book. I actually enjoyed it a lot. I like that the couple actually has some life experience and that they are more mature. Many times in romances I get irritated by the main characters acting like babies. The author avoids that problem. Anne’s family on the other hand is insufferable, both the father and the sister. The other side characters were a mixed bag for me, but I guess they served their purpose well enough.

I am finding it hard to stay awake to read it. I am only done with Vol. I and I hate it. To me, it is like a gossip column, only in book form. I resent Lady Russell as she is a meddling old biddy that Anne, unfortunately, looks up to. Mary is an attention-seeking hypochondriac and uses Anne to do her bidding every chance she gets, Elizabeth has no use for Anne. All they seem to care about is status and class.
I am sorry to be so negative about this book, but sometimes I just get upset at what I read and this book makes me angry, especially the way they treat Anne.

Well, the second part was better than the first. It is not one of my favorite classics by any means, but I will say that I was pleased to see that Anne and the Captain got engaged. Lady Russell got her just deserts and had to deal with the fact that the two loved each other. I think the separation helped in this case and they were too young and not ready to get married eight years prior. Her father only consented this time because the Captain now had some money. It seems like no one actually held a job unless they were in the military. It is all about class and social standing. Their lives seemed so boring, but then again some may say the same about me because I always have my nose stuck in a book. I stay out of trouble that way. ;)

Stormie, I think you hit the point of the book. There are people who are so focused on themselves that they ignore or put-down others to build themselves up. The challenge is to look past and see others for their true worth, regardless of money or statis.